SYSTEM FOR PROVIDING ADVERTISEMENT USING LETTER PAPER COMPRISING ADVERTISEMENT AND METHOD THEREOF
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a system for and a method of providing an advertisement using an electronic letter paper containing an advertisement. In particular, the invention relates to such a system and method, in which a user communication terminal or PC downloads an electronic letter paper containing advertisements, which are collected from plural advertisers, and the user prepares and sends a letter message using the downloaded electronic letter paper, so that the advertisers can advertise their products or services to the communication terminal or PC users.
DESCRIPTION OF THE RELATED ART Recently, a mobile communication terminal such as a mobile telephone and a PDA has been greatly popularized, due to advancement in the information and communication technologies. This mobile communication terminal provides various services, among which a letter message service has been widely used by a large number of youths . Where a letter message is transmitted using the mobile communication terminal, a service charge (for example, 30Won in Korean currency) is imposed to the user,
based on the number of uses. This amount of service charge may not be very expensive for a single use of letter message service. In case of a user who uses the letter message service tens to hundreds of times a day, however, the accumulated service charge will become a heavy burden on the user. Furthermore, in case where, together with the letter message, a multi-media data (such as an animation, an image, and voice) is transmitted, the user must bear much higher expenses . Although some communication companies offer a special package service, for example, free of charge within a certain number of uses for the letter service, this special package commonly charges a higher basic communication fee than other general services, so that it does not make a big difference to the user, in terms of the service charge. Similarly, when a large amount of data such as an animation data is transmitted along with a message using a personal computer, the user must bear a higher service charge .
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, the present invention has been made in order to solve the above problems in the art, and it is an object of the invention to provide a system for and a method of providing an advertisement using an electronic letter paper
containing an advertisement, in which an advertiser bears at least part of a service charge for letter message (including an animation, a voice, an image, and the like), and, in exchange, the user downloads and use an electronic letter paper containing the advertisement when preparing and., sending a letter message, thereby advertising effectively the products or services to a large number of users . In order to accomplish the above object, according to one aspect of the invention, there is provided an advertisement providing system. The system of the invention comprises: a plurality of advertiser PCs; a server for providing an advertisement-included electronic letter paper (AIEL paper) to a user communication terminal, the server collecting an advertisement from the plurality of advertiser PCs, storing the AIEL paper containing the collected advertisement, and transmitting the AIEL paper to the user communication terminal via a mobile communication server when requested for a download; and a mobile communication terminal capable of downloading and displaying the AIEL paper transmitted from the AIEL providing server via the mobile communication server. In the above system, the AIEL paper includes an advertisement area containing a certain advertisement, and a letter inputting area capable of writing a desired letter
message . According to another aspect of the invention, there is provided an advertisement providing method using an advertisement providing system. The system comprises: a plurality of advertiser PCs; a server for providing an advertisement-included electronic letter paper (AIEL paper) to' a user communication terminal, the server collecting an advertisement from the plurality of advertiser PCs, storing the AIEL paper containing the collected advertisement, and transmitting the AIEL paper to the user communication terminal via a mobile communication server when requested for a download; and a mobile communication terminal capable of downloading and displaying the AIEL paper transmitted from the AIEL providing server via the mobile communication server. In this method, when the user writes and transmits a letter message using the AIEL paper downloaded from the AIEL providing server, the advertiser bears at least part of a service charge for letter message. According to a further aspect of the invention, there is provided an advertisement providing system. The system of the invention comprises: a plurality of advertiser PCs; a server for providing an advertisement-included electronic letter paper (AIEL paper) to a user PC, the server collecting an advertisement from the plurality of advertiser PCs, storing the AIEL paper containing the
collected advertisement, and providing the AIEL paper to the user PC via an Internet when the user PC is connected thereto; and a user PC capable of preparing and transmitting a letter message using the AIEL paper. In the above system, the AIEL paper includes an adv.ertisement area containing a certain advertisement, and a letter inputting area capable of writing a desired letter message . According to a further aspect of the invention, there is provided an advertisement providing method using an advertisement providing system. The system comprises: a plurality of advertiser PCs; a server for providing an advertisement-included electronic letter paper (AIEL paper) to a user PC, the server collecting an advertisement from the plurality of advertiser PCs, storing the AIEL paper containing the collected advertisement, and providing the AIEL paper to the user PC via an Internet when the user PC is connected thereto; and a user PC capable of preparing and transmitting a letter message using the AIEL paper. In this method, when the user writes and transmits a letter message using the AIEL paper downloaded from the AIEL providing server, the advertiser bears at least part of a service charge for letter message. According to a further aspect of the invention, there is provided an advertisement providing method using an
advertisement providing system. The system comprises: a plurality of advertiser PCs; a server for providing an advertisement-included electronic letter paper (AIEL paper) to a user communication terminal, the server collecting an advertisement from the plurality of advertiser PCs, storing the,! AIEL paper containing the collected advertisement, and transmitting the AIEL paper to the user communication terminal via a mobile communication server when requested for a download; and a mobile communication terminal capable of downloading and displaying the AIEL paper transmitted from the AIEL providing server via the mobile communication server. In this method, when the user prepares and transmits a multi-media message using the ' AIEL paper downloaded from the AIEL providing server, the advertiser bears at least part of a service charge for multi-media message .
In the above method, the multi-media message includes one or more selected from the group consisting of a letter, a voice, an image, and an animation.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Further objects and advantages of the invention can be more fully understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an "advertisement providing system according to a first embodiment of the invention; FIG. 2a illustrates an electronic letter paper including a plurality of advertisements downloaded to a user's communication terminal; FIG. 2b illustrates an electronic letter paper when a certain specific advertisement is selected; FIG. 3 is a flow chart explaining a method of providing an advertisement according to the first embodiment of the invention; FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating an advertisement providing system according to a second embodiment of the invention; FIG. 5 illustrates advertisements displayed in a website for providing an advertisement-included electronic letter paper; and FIG. 6 is a flowchart explaining a method of providing an advertisement according to the second embodiment of the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Hereafter, the preferred embodiments of the present invention will be explained, with reference to the accompanying drawings .
FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating an advertisement providing system according to a first embodiment of the invention. FIG. 2a illustrates an electronic letter paper including a plurality of advertisements downloaded to a user's communication terminal. FIG. 2b illustrates an electronic letter paper when a certain specific advertisement is selected. FIG. 3 is a flow chart explaining a method of providing an advertisement according to the first embodiment of the invention. FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating an advertisement providing system according to a second embodiment of the invention. FIG. 5 illustrates advertisements displayed in a website for providing an advertisement-included electronic letter paper. FIG. 6 is a flowchart explaining a method of providing an advertisement according to the second embodiment of the invention. (First Embodiment) As illustrated in FIG. 1, the advertisement providing system 100 according to the first embodiment of the invention includes a plurality of advertiser PCs (an advertiser A, B, C, ..., Z) , a server 50 for providing an advertisement-included electronic letter (AIEL) paper (hereinafter, referred to as an "AIEL paper"), and a mobile communication terminal HP1, HP2 , HP3 , ..., HPN. The server
50 for providing the AIEL paper, i.e., the AIEL paper providing server 50, functions to collect an advertisement from the plurality of advertisers and store the AIEL paper containing the collected advertisements and capable of writing a letter message therein. When a downloading is requested from the user's mobile communication terminal HP1, HP2 , ..., HPN, the AIEL paper providing server 50 transmits the AIEL paper to the mobile communication terminal through a mobile communication server 70. The mobile communication terminals are capable of downloading and displaying the AIEL paper transmitted from the AIEL providing server 50. When a user wishes to prepare a letter message, he or she downloads an AIEL paper from the AIEL providing server 50 using his or her mobile communication terminal. Then, the user can write a letter message in the downloaded AIEL paper and transmit it. At this time, the advertiser, who puts the advertisement in the AIEL paper, pays at least part of the service charge for the letter message, so that the user can use the letter message service less expensively. For this reason, the demand for these AIEL papers will increase, and accordingly the advertisers can maximize their advertising effect for their products or services . Referring to FIG. 3, a method of providing an advertisement according to the first embodiment of the
invention will be hereafter explained in detail . As shown in FIG. 3, when a download request for a AIEL paper is received from a user's mobile communication terminal (S10) , the AIEL paper providing server 50 transmits an AIEL paper to the mobile communication terminal, which has requested its download (S20) . The transmitted AIEL paper includes advertisements collected from the plurality of advertiser PCs. The AIEL paper downloaded to the user's terminal is stored in a desired storage space of the user's terminal. If the user calls the downloaded and stored AIEL paper in order to write a letter message, a plurality of advertisements A, B, C, ..., Z are displayed, for example, in a vertically elongated form as shown in FIG. 2a. (This vertical elongated form is intended to put as many advertisements as possible in a limited space, considering the display area in the user's terminal. It may have a transversally elongated form. ) In addition, the above advertisements are ones that the advertiser PCs A, B, C, ..., Z have provided to the AIEL paper providing server 50. Here, in order to select a certain specific advertisement from the plural advertisements, a number key corresponding to the specific advertisement is pressed. In FIG. 2b, the "advertisement B" is selected from FIG. 2a by pressing the number key '2' in the terminal.
Next, if the specific advertisement (here, the advertisement B) is selected, an AIEL paper 20 is displayed, as illustrated in FIG. 2a. The AIEL paper includes an advertisement area 25 for the selected advertisement, and a letter inputting area 27 capable of inputting desired letters. In addition, a separate symbol 21 may be provided in the advertisement area 27. If a function key (for example, '*' key) corresponding to the symbol 21 is pressed, the advertisement area 25 may be expanded into the entire display area to thereby provide a full screen advertisement for a certain period of time. In exchange for that, the advertiser may bear a further portion of the service charge for letter message. In this way, the users can save the cost for the letter message, and the advertiser can maximize the advertising effect of its own company. As described above, a letter message is written in an AIEL paper including a certain specific advertisement (S30) and then transmitted into a counterpart terminal . At this time, the number of uses of the AIEL paper is transmitted to the AIEL paper providing server 50 via the mobile communication server 70, thereby counting the number of usage (S40) . Based on the counted number of uses, the advertiser bears at least part of the service charge for letter message (S50) . In addition, at the step S10, in case where the user
does not download and use an AIEL paper from the AIEL paper providing server 50, the user bears all the service charge for letter message, similar to the conventional service (S60) . Here, an operator company, who operates the AIEL pap.er providing server 50, imposes a desired charge to the advertisers, in exchange for providing the AIEL paper to user's terminals. The AIEL paper providing server 50 may be operated independently, or may be integrated into the mobile communication server 70. In the latter case, the mobile communication company can collect advertisements directly from the advertisers and provide the AIEL paper containing the collected advertisements to mobile communication terminal users. The above-described embodiment is configured such that an AIEL paper containing a plurality of advertisements is downloaded into a user's mobile communication terminal. Alternatively, when manufacturing a mobile communication terminal device, a desired number of AIEL papers may be stored in a memory of the terminal. Therefore, a user can use the stored AIEL papers for a while and then download other AIEL papers, or both ways can be used at the same time . In this way, users of a mobile communication terminal can save the service charge for letter message by
downloading and using an electronic letter paper containing advertisement (AIEL paper) . The advertiser can advertise effectively its own products or services to the mobile communication terminal users. Furthermore, according to the invention, the AIEL paper of the invention is not treated as .a SPAM mail since the AIEL paper can be downloaded only when requested by a user. (Second embodiment) Referring to FIG. 4, the advertising system 200 according to the second embodiment of the invention includes a plurality of advertiser PCs (advertisers Al , A2 , A3, ..., AN), an AIEL paper providing server (site) 150 for providing an AIEL paper to a user's PC, and a user PC PCI, PC2 , PC3 , ..., PCN, which are capable of writing and transmitting a message using an AIEL paper provided from the AIEL paper providing server 150. The AIEL paper providing server 150 functions to collect an advertisement from the plurality of advertisers and store the AIEL paper containing the collected advertisements and capable of writing a letter message therein. When the user PC is connected to the AIEL paper providing server 150, the server 150 is configured so as to transmit the AIEL paper to the user PC through the Internet 170. If a user connects with the AIEL paper providing site 150, selects a desired AIEL paper, and writes and transmits
a letter message using the selected AIEL paper, then the advertiser, who puts the advertisement in the AIEL paper, bears at least part of the service charge for the letter message. Therefore, the user can use the letter message service less expensively. For this reason, the demand for the.se AIEL papers will increase, and accordingly the advertisers can maximize the advertising effect for their products or services. Referring to FIG. 6, a method of providing an advertisement according to the second embodiment of the invention will be hereafter explained in detail. As illustrated in FIG. 6, when a user PC is connected to the AIEL paper providing site 150 (S10'), the server 150 provides 170 an AIEL paper to the user PC via the Internet 170 (S20'). The AIEL paper contains advertisements collected from a plurality of advertisers. For example, the AIEL paper to be provided to the user PC is displayed as shown in FIG. 5. That is, a plurality of advertisement Al-AN, Bl-BN, Cl-CN, ..., Zl-ZN may be displayed in such a way as to be arranged around a rotating drum along its circumference. Here, the advertisements Al-AN, Bl-BN, Cl-CN, ..., Zl-ZN is configured such that, when one of them is selected, another plural advertisements Al, A2 , A3, ..., AN can be displayed similarly in such a way as to be arranged around a rotating drum
along its circumference. These advertisements are collected in the AIEL paper providing server 150 from many advertisers, and arranged around a drum, which can be rotated, for example, by a user's click, so that a larger amount of advertisements can be contained. .< Here, a certain specific advertisement can be selected, for example, by clicking a desired advertisement. In the figure, an advertisement A2 is selected and displayed. If a specific advertisement is selected, an AIEL paper 20 is displayed in the same manner as in the first embodiment. In addition, for example, by double-clicking a certain advertisement, the home page corresponding to the clicked advertisement may be connected and displayed, thereby enabling a direction on-line purchasing of desired products or services. Next, the user can write a letter message, using an
AIEL paper containing a certain specific advertisement (here, the advertisement A2 ) (S30') . Then, the letter message is transmitted to a counterpart terminal, and at the same time, information on the number of uses of the
AIEL paper is sent to the AIEL paper providing server 150 via the Internet 170 so as to count the use frequency (S40 ' ) ) . Based on the counted number of uses, the advertiser (here, the advertiser A2 of the advertisement A2) bears at least part of the service charge for letter
message (S50 ' ) , so that the user can utilize the letter message service less expensively. In addition, at the step S10 ' , in case where the user does not use an AIEL paper, he or she bears all the service charge for letter message as in the conventional service (S60' ) . In this way, the users use the AIEL papers in order to save the service charge for letter message, and thus the advertisers can advertise their own products or services effectively to a large number of PC users. Furthermore, the above AIEL paper may contain various
background pictures, or may be provided in such a way as to
insert only an advertisement into a conventional letter
message window. Besides the letter message, the above-
described AIEL paper may be utilized for an email, a note
exchanging, a chatting, or the like. Besides the mobile
communication terminal and the PC, the present invention
may be applied to a two-way television or the like.
Industrial Applicability As described above, according to the present invention, users can save the service charge for letter message by using an electronic letter paper containing advertisement (AIEL paper) . Therefore, the demand for these AIEL papers will increase, and accordingly the advertisers,
who puts advertisements in the AIEL paper, can maximize their advertising effect. Furthermore, according to the invention, the AIEL paper of the invention is not treated as a SPAM mail since the AIEL paper can be downloaded only when requested by a user.
While the present invention has been described with reference to several preferred embodiments, the description is illustrative of the invention and is not construed as limiting the invention. Various modifications and variations may occur to those skilled in the art, without departing from the scope and spirit of the invention, as defined by the appended claims .